Posted by Corey Latham on March 31, 2008, 12:46 pm
Board Administrator

To Be The Man, You're Going to Have to Beat The Man Concord, NC ~ Ross Furr played the patient and calm approach during Saturdays nights running of the Whitley Truck Equipment 150, but when the money was on the line, he made good on the track that his grandfather had built, as only the defending champ could and proved to everyone his one win last season and his championship win on the final lap of the final race wasn't a fluke and that he could back it up. Ross started in the 7th position, that was after Clint Mills smoked the field to take the pole position. Concord regular Shawn Mangum, Jamie Yelton, B.J. Mackey and 2007 Concord regular season champ Chuck Crump rounded out the top 5, but other contenders were looming. Heat Race With over 46 cars on hand throughout the weekend and 38 taking time, 14 cars started the heat race to make up the 28 car stating field. Only 22 were locked in on time. Curtis Truex Jr. out of the Dale Jr. Motorsports stable made up for his mistake on qualifying, and took a decisive win in the 25 lapper. 2008 rookie of the year contender Darrell Wallace Jr. got taken out in a wreck of someone elses doing after having one of the faster cars in practice and did not make the show. Wallace had already tore up his primary car and moved to a back-up which was powered by a crate engine, not the normal Billy Banks Racing Engines powerplant he had been practicing with. Truex Jr., Thomas Hartensveld, Nick Losito and Kyle Moon moved on to the main event. Roger Lee Newton burned the rear end up during his qualifying run and had to take a provisional as well as Daniel Pope II. Race time was here, and after the long off season everybody was overly ready. Or so we thought. Thinking it would be a night of carnage (There were 10 cautions though), it seemed everybody had their heads on. On the start, Concord regular Shawn Mangum showed that he knew the place, pulling out to a early 2 second lead in the first 5 laps.B.J.Mackey quickly moved to second in the opening laps and made everyone know what they already knew, he was a threat. Ross Furr Moved up the 6th positon from his 7th starting spot on lap 7 and mades sure everone knew he meant business. The 54 of Kenny Brooks who had a stellar qualifying run came with him putting the #72 Jr. Motorsports car of Richard Boswell back to 8th. By lap 25 the leaders started to catch the back of the field and the lead Mangum had was erased. By lap 27 the top 4 of Mangum, Mackey, Mills, Yelton, Furr and 6th qualifier Jake Crum were nose to tail. On lap 30 Mackey made his move getting by Mangum with the #77 of Mills following through. 3 laps later Yelton touches Mangum and moves him up the track with Yelton, Furr and Crum getting by also. Playing nice came to an end on lap 41 with the #25 of Furr getting into Yelton in turn 3 and bring out the nights first caution. After the restart on lap 47, Rookie Of The Year contender Barandon McReynolds gets tagged into the wall in turn 1 very hard ending his maiden voyage in the series. Also collected were the cars of Casey Holt, Brandon Carlson and Corey Lajoie, with Lajoie and McReynolds having their night come to an end. On the restart on lap 56, Nick Losito gets tagged from behind into the inside wall at the flagstand ending his night as well. Halfway lap 75: 1. Mackey 2. Mills 3. Furr 4.Crum 5.Mangum 6.Boswell 7.Kenny Brooks 8.Clay Greenfield 9.Chuck Crump 10.Jeff Melton Lap 76 comes with the #16 of Daniel Pope blowing a right front and hitting the turn 1 wall hard. Shortly after halfway we still have 23 cars on track. On the restart on lap 82, the top 10 running car of Kenny Brooks never gets going and stops in turn 2, we are starting to get a theme here. After the restart on lap 89, the #25 of Furr gets into the side of Mills allowing the car of Crum to follow suit. The cream is starting to rise to the top now. After a few quick cautions, the main focus is no longer at the front, it's on the #33 of Roger Lee Newton. Newton started next to last but after 119 laps had moved his way into the 4th position. He was coming, and in a hurry. On lap 107 furr made his winning move getting abond the 2 of Mackey and tried to set sail. Jake Crum was not going to have that. "The Big One" came on lap 125 with the cars of Truex Jr., Casey Holt, Clint Mills, Brad Kurth, Clint Daniels, Jeff Melton and Kyle Moon decide to stop and talk about it in turn 1. All drive away safe, but unhappy. After a few green flag laps, Brad Kurth brings out the final caution of the evening, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. On the previous restart Crum had tried to anticipate the start jacking up Furr coming to the line and then nearly turning him on the back straight and again on the front straight as he desperately chased what would have been the biggest win of his career. Furr tried to fool them on the restart, but Jake Crum wasn't buying. They barelled into turn 1 with Crum in hot pursuit. Coming off turn three coming to the white flag, Crum gets a nose under Furr, but he closes the door. They cross the line with Furr 1st, Crum 2nd, Newton 3rd, Clay Greenfield 4th and Yelton coming back to finish 5th. All in all, a good race. I figured with all the rookies entered, and it being the worlds fastest half-mile, there would be lots of tore up cars. There were many cautions, but nothing for the reasons I expected. The whole field showed patience for the most part, and that shined all their talent. Ross Furr is the defending champ, he didn't need to show anybody anything. He just made a point and showed that for 2008, "to be the man, you have to beat the man" and there is no question that Ross Furr is "The Man".